Nikolay Georgiev Drenchev

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 23.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Russia

• Says only Vazrazhdane can improve relations with Russia. At the party's registration with the Central Election Commission for the coming elections, Nikolay Drenchev said that Vazrazhdane is "the only party that makes the claim and is really able to improve the trade, cultural and tourist relations with Russia" (our translation). Actualno.com writes that the MP thereby practically confirmed the suspicions of many that the party has a pro-Russian leaning. — Actualno.com, 16 Aug 2022
• After his expulsion he says the war in Ukraine began in 2014. In Studio Actualno, Drenchev said: "The war did not begin in February 2022 – it really began in 2014, after the Maidan, after the coup that was carried out" (our translation). In his words, repression of the Russian and the Bulgarian minority began then, and the Minsk agreements were brutally violated. He also holds that Bulgaria behaved "badly" towards Moscow by being the first to introduce sanctions, expelling diplomats and giving weapons to Ukraine, and that Russia deserved to put it on its list of unfriendly states. Actualno.com headlines the piece that he "continues with the Russian talking points" (our translation), and notes that he did not answer specifically the question why Vazrazhdane had not appeared in front of the Russian embassy with a call for peace. — Actualno.com, 19 Feb 2024
• Rejects the charge that Vazrazhdane is a Russophile party financed by Russia. A former member and former organisational secretary of the party, Drenchev said on the bTV programme Lice v lice, quoted by Epicenter: "The charge that we are a Russophile party is not true as regards our programme documents" (our translation). He allows that "we play with the Russophile vote in the media" (our translation), and adds: "The party is not financed by Russia and has no such links" (our translation). — Epicenter, 1 Mar 2024

Other

• Expelled from Vazrazhdane on 9 February 2024. Epicenter writes that he is one of three MPs expelled from the party because they recommended as councillors people who voted in the secret ballot for chair of the Sofia Municipal Council the day before; the other two are Ivo Ruschev and Aleksandar Arangelov. The leader Kostadin Kostadinov says they "nominated the breakaway municipal councillors in the Sofia Municipal Council, who preferred to choose financial incentives over the honour and cause of the party" (our translation). On bTV he says: "The official motive is that I was expelled because I supported the chair of the council" (our translation). — Epicenter, 1 Mar 2024
• Bozhkov announces that Drenchev and others join Centre; Drenchev denies it. Vasil Bozhkov writes on Facebook that three MPs and four municipal councillors, united in Alternative for Bulgaria, have joined his party Centre, and shares a photo with him and Aleksandar Arangelov. Drenchev answers on Facebook: "The post is misleading and does not correspond to the objective truth" (our translation). According to him neither Ivo Ruschev nor the four councillors attended the meeting, and "At present no decision has been taken in Alternative for Bulgaria on the form in which we will run in the coming elections!" (our translation). — Boulevard Bulgaria, 10 Apr 2024